Here are a couple of our CUTE Columbus Journey Maps we made! The kids LOVE bringing out their markers! When we were learning about Columbus we did a brain file to talk about our schema....My favorite misconception...."He was a famous singer!" I love kids!

Then we read the cute story Where's My Mummy and we talked about how our "Mummy" helps us when we are scared. We all started with the same writing stem "When I'm scared my mummy...."﻿

These are some of our math "tubs" we have been working on to help enforce the math concepts we are learning. Kids love "sums of ten"! You cover the mat then find as many ways to get a sum of ten as possible.

This is "Under the Cup" covering missing addends.﻿

"Race to a Flat" practicing base 10.

Here the kiddos flip over two cards and make number sentences for each parnter. They then record both partners' number sentences and compare <,>, or = between the two number sentences.﻿

This girl got through a ton of math "fact family triangles"!!! You can find these on my TpT store! They love to write with dry erase!!﻿

"Follow the Leader" I found in some small domino activity book and remade the recording sheet using a cute font (I am a total addict!) They choose a domino to be the leader then in three different columns they sort and record which dominos are less than, equal to, and great than the leader.

This is my "money math" game﻿ similar to "Race to a Flat". The students take turns rolling a die and counting out that many pennies. Then when they fill a ten frame they exchange it for a dime. Then when the time is up they record their money and compare who has more/less. Then we end with a spinner telling us who won (least amount or greatest.)

Hope these pictures help encourage and motivate!!!! I am ALWAYS looking for ideas and activities to help me get throught the day!!!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

So, math has been on my mind this year! Our standards given by the district have changed and caused me to rethink how and what I am focusing on in math! I wanted to share an old "Math Their Way" game revamped that my students loved!

Under the Cup: Student 1 rolls the dice and counts out that many cubes. Then has student 2 cover their eyes while they cover some of the cubes up. Then student 1 will write a missing addend equation (number sentence). Student 2 will use the white board to draw a picture to help them solve for the missing addend. They love trying to trick their partner!

The way to qualify is to follow my blog, and leave a comment through rafflecopter. I will then pick TWO lucky folks! (I am crossing my fingers this works right, since its my first giveaway!!!)

This offer ENDS September 13, 2013! Thats Right! Friday the 13th! LOL! I will announce the winners within 48 hours! I will then contact the winners via EMAIL. Good luck! And hope you enjoy checking out my blog!!!

Well, I don't know about y'all but I made is 7 WHOLE SCHOOL DAYS before my first melt down, LOL! (And yes "y'all" I am a Texan!) Surprisingly enough, it really wasn't school itself, but all my after school obligations with my girls! AND, a not so fun trip to the municipal court to pay for a few tickets (all dismissable ladies! don't judge)
So, I took a few pics of some of our first week graphs we have made.

Day one we make a transportation graph and talk about it. I swear I never cut the butcher paper long enough!

Then we did a birthday graph (Teachers, you know we really do this for us!!!)

And my favorite, the eye color pie chart!!!! This idea came from Abby Lee's Kindergarten blog. My gradelevel did it last year when I was in kindergarten but you would have never known by the reaction from my first graders as I put the last piece up and it made a circle! (AND 17/21 where here in kindergarten!)

This is a quick snip of our CAFE Strategies board. Granted, I wish we had gotten to more strategies but I just can seem to find the time.....It is crazy at the beginning of the year!

Last year I decided to try homemade book bags because I was tired of bying boxes and I loaned my totes to a coworker and decided to let her have them. So, I asked parents to bring an old (child sized) Tshirt and I did a little cosmetic touches to them and TADA! The kids love that they have their own personal book bag that is made out of a shirt. And the best part so far is that it is REALLY fool proof when I tell them to go get their bag. I don't have to wait while they look on every label to try and find theirs!

One of my students favorite things right now are the pointers. I have purchased cheap stir sticks from Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree, and other places then put them in a pen organizer and let them grab one when they head to work on Daily 5. Trust me, this is a HUGE motivator to read.....(as well as a distraction for some, lol)

Friday, August 9, 2013

I now have my packet of "Morning Meeting" printables on TpT if you are interested! Now, I didn't create the wheel here, Lol! This is just my spruced up conglomeration of the things I have used in the past. I take no credit for my works..........well, except the clipart! I did draw those myself! I charge a small fee for 55 pages of printables......{Lots of sweat (mouse/hand syndrome!) and tears went into making them, haha!}

Thursday, August 1, 2013

So, since I am at a new grade, I have re-done my Clalendar/Morning Meeting stuff.....Again! I feel like that is the one thing that changes every year (for the better)

I think this is a temporary set up....If you notice the PomPom magnets holding up some of it. I have 2" numbers that will go on the pink poster (Who's not here?) and when the students come in they will move their number to the Daily Graph (lunch count). I will use VisAVis Markers to write next to the orange tray and blue tray what we are having for lunch choices. (We offer two choices, obviously.) I did this last year and it worked great for me to see who was not in yet/absent or who hadn't made their lunch choice. And it was a quick, easy way to count up the choices. I will probaby allow my student helper to change the rings on the black poster. And I plan on having them make the date with tally marks and money then the class will check it.

This is my wordwall.....My first attempt almost made me cry! I wandered around San Angelo looking for that perfect letter to go on my black circles and one day accedentally found these awesomely cute die-cuts at Wal-Mart! Last colored pack at the store. So I spend a while aranging just the right colors and gluing in the propper place, then the laminator really jacked them up!!! I was too impatient and didn't let the laminator warm up long enough (even though the ready light was on! TEMPTRESS) So I tried ironing them to get it to seal, then I ran it through the laminator again.....Needless to say, I threw the first set out! This is my second attempt....and if you look close a few of the letters didn't seal very good again....I think our school lamiator just doesn't want to work over the summer!!! Now, my FAVORITE thing about a word wall is making it interactive and personal!!! After we put a word up (I use Ticky-Tac), the students can go up to the wall and take the word off and go sit down with it! They love being able to take the words on and off!!!! I feel like they use the word wall more because they feel like it belongs to them!

Last pic......My NEW CAFE labels!!! I will just staple the strategies ontop of the ribbon! I AM EXCITED!!!!! You can have it for FREE too! ﻿

Monday, July 8, 2013

Ok.....Now all you teachers can be jealous! This was the First thing I did when I moved....pretty sad huh! 12x18

So I wanted to show off some of my summer projects....I love to share things (hopefully it doesn't come off as bragging, lol)! This is to hold my letter tiles for small group instruction. I will probably place it behind my guided reading table so it is easy to access.

I bought this at Wal-Mart for under $12 in the tool section.

I found some cute orange chevron paper from Hobby Lobby and made a template with my girls scrap construction paper.

Then I got to choppin!﻿

I made sure they fit ....

Added the Letters and Used this double-Sided dot tape from Hobby Lobby.

Goes on clear!

This is a top picture showing that there is a little ledge you can store things in! kinda cool.....it's the little things that make us teachers smile!﻿

I also went to Lowe's and bought the 22 drawer organizer and started making my Labels for that! After I spray paint it black to match I will add a pic to show you!

Check out my Stud muffin! This is not his favorite thing to do but since I moved back up to first grade....and I wasn't gonna leave that awesome thing back in kindergarten! Having a reading loft in First Grade was one of my most favorite things ever!!!

I might....might....MIGHT paint it....I've had it 3 years and just haven't gotten the motivation to tackle that project yet.

So, Project number bazillion....I got 6 frames at the famous Dollar Tree!

I totally found this off Pinterest and wanted to try it out!

I plan on adding some heavy duty magnets to the back with E6000 (both found at Hobby Lobby) and place them on my magnetic White Board

About Me

I am a working mother with two little girls ages 7 and 8. My husband and I live in the big state of Texas! I have worked 7 years for Bowie Elementary teaching First Grade, kindergarten, and now First Grade again. I love it!